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I'm Fly'n, Fly'n, Fly'n...

As you can see, Fly'n (I choose to pronounce it 'fline') is an indie 2D platformer. That's a pretty oversaturated genre, yes, but that didn't stop Ankama from making it a really bloody great indie 2D platformer. If you're like me, just one look at the trailer will convice you that Fly'n is in a league of its own.

It's quickly obvious that Fly'n makes use of multiple playable characters and dimension switching, neither of which are particularly innovative, but what I love about this game is the casualness with which it builds this into the world. There's a minimal amount of fuss about it: the tutorial is limited to telling you when you press which button, and it's up to you to figure out what happens as a result. Although the tutorial signs - which are alive, by the way - show up in the majority of levels in the first world, the amount of hand-holding is minimal throughout.

The controls aren't exactly standard - LMB for jump, RMB for special ability, W for glide, A-D for movement and Space for dimension switching - but it still handles like a dream on m&kb, and if it's too jarring you can rebind the keys anyway. I think this is also achieved by the fact that the game runs really smoothly on my medium-power desktop PC.

The fantastic botanical aesthetic might lead you to think that the game's more 'casual' than, say, Rayman, but make no mistake: the game demands a fair bit of proficiency with its controls later on, particularly when dimension-switching, to progress at a steady rate. I find myself occasionally forgetting about all of the abilities at my disposal: forgetting to dimension-switch when gliding, or forgetting to glide when bouncing, so it's pretty taxing and hard to master.

Death is instant and puts you back at the most recent checkpoint, and gives you a score penalty - no limited lives. However, you can press R to put yourself back at the same checkpoint as well, which doesn't count as death, so it's impossible to get stuck, or to see yourself slowly gliding towards certain doom. In fact, aside from a deliberate demonstration of getting stuck in the first level, it's extremely rare to actually box yourself in, one way or another. The levels are quite expansive, with a lot of verticality, so in the majority of the early levels (world 1 and 2) it's actually possible to backtrack through the entire level in search of any pickups or secrets you might have missed, which is of course completely optional. The only requirement for progression is completing the level - the pickups are just bonuses.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone who appreciates beauty and platformers, but if I still haven't convinced you, then consider this: the loading screen animation consists of the villain, who is basically a sentient hair dryer, jumping up and down in a cheerleader outfit. I rest my case.

Hi there !
As a develloper in Fly'n (you did choose the right pronunciation LTK !) I have to say that the demo is done and we're pretty happy with it... just wait a little more !
A big thanks to this warm return LTK ! I'm touched ! Truly you seem's to understand this game and the intentions !

Finished it! Steam says... wait, did I really spend 15 hours on this over the whole weekend? Damn. And I still haven't unlocked everything.

You know, I though Ankama was actually an independent studio, but apparently they're a company that's also into making flash MMO games and publishing comic books. The devs do their darnedest to act indie, though. Communication pre- and post-release has been non-stop. They're doing a pretty good job in that respect.

Nah, there's one of those big dot-matrix scrolling marquee things bolted atop the highest turrets of Castle Shotgun, and every comment made on RPS rolls across it. Any devs worth their salt employ some keen-eyed youngster to watch it day and night in case their name is mentioned. On a clear day you can even see it from the shores of distant Consoleland.

You know, I though Ankama was actually an independent studio, but apparently they're a company that's also into making flash MMO games and publishing comic books. The devs do their darnedest to act indie, though. Communication pre- and post-release has been non-stop. They're doing a pretty good job in that respect.

Hi again !

You're touching a point, and honestly we had a lot of discuss on that subjet in the team making FLY'N.
Try to see how really independant we were or how fake corporate... to finally found that we were just doing a game with a lot enthousiasm, fun and freedom.
Just doing a game.

Ahh, of course. I just couldn't remember what other game did the dimension-switching thing, but that's the one. Giana Sisters didn't appeal to me nearly as much though. And Fly'n is cheaper!

Originally Posted by crounchann

Hi again !

You're touching a point, and honestly we had a lot of discuss on that subjet in the team making FLY'N.
Try to see how really independant we were or how fake corporate... to finally found that we were just doing a game with a lot enthousiasm, fun and freedom.
Just doing a game.

Yeah, you obviously had way more benefits of being backed by a company than drawbacks. You really get that feel of a singular artistic vision behind Fly'n, while the QA gave it that polish you don't usually get from indie games.

This game is fantastic. The art is beautiful, as good as Rayman Origins, even being an indie game, the gameplay is solid and it is pretty long for a game this cheap. It took me 13 hours to finish and I did not bother getting everything and unlocking every bonus level. The difficulty is spot on: never too ease or too hard, unless you are trying to get 100% completion. The way collectibles work is also similar to Rayman Origins, being the gameplay similarities stop there. The pace in Fly'n is slower and there is an emphasis in using the abilities of each of the 4 characters to overcome obstacles and transverse the levels, which are not simple left to right affairs: they are big and sprawling and you move both horizontally and vertically, free to go back and forth. Although the game is 2D, the level design reminds me of the levels in the 3D platformers of the N64 era.

They're not as indie as you think, though; the company has developed several other games, most of them relating to the universe of a flash MMO game. Though Fly'n apparently stands on its own in this regard.

Soundtrack is now available here, it'll be on Steam in the future as well.

I just installed the demo - and - oh boy what a pain the ass. I posted the whole affair to the Steam Forums but the bottom line is that it insisted in repairing/replacing/simply not liking C++, Net4, DX9 and XNA DESPITE them all being up-to-date, a process which took a whopping 45-50 mins.

By the time I got the thing running I think I was in too bad a mood to care about it - it's very pretty but otherwise it appeared to offer me a basic platformer with a few "oh you didn't expect that and missed stuff as a result - never mind try again" moments and so I Alt-F4'd it

I'll take another look when I recover from the misery of that install - PC gaming at it's very very worst (all the could add is mandatory GFWL and they'd be in hell) tho...